Chapter 20: Hungry Are The Dead

[ravenn4544]

Mouser follows Bo. "I hope you know where you are going....", he whispers.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo continues talking to the others in hushed tones so they can keep together in the fog.

"Of course I know the way. I am a professional wanderer."

He sticks to his decision and attempts to get away from the oncoming mob, using the noise of the monsters groans as a guide if he must.

"We cant go back the way we came with a wall of undead monsters blocking the path. We are now on our own, separated from the others and shit out of luck."

"We need to stay ahead of that herd if we want to live. Though I wouldn't mind having one of those dead creatures to study, if we find a lone walker along the way."

[ChubbyPixie]

Telkis nods to Urdur, now blocking out the madman’s rambling. “What were you looking for again? I forgot why we came here. Healing potions? This fellow has been very distracting.” He takes one last look around to see if there are any doors off this central nave he may have missed.

[wolfpack]

Brevos will go with Bo and Mouser not willing to leave them on their own.

We need to get into the wilderness and find a cliff or ravine. they are mindless we should be able to lead them over a ledge.

[Inferno]

Vicar's Head, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Four. Midday. Tuesday, November 15th, 576 CY
Cold, foggy, cloudy







Brevos and Mouser follow Bo through the fog-smothered lanes of Vicar's Head. In time, they escape the village of the damned, racing past the sign they encountered upon entering it.

"PLAGUE! KEEP OUT! THIS TOWN IS DAMNED!"

Their friends and the doomed hamlet behind them, they ascend the path into the wooded mountains. The town's graveyard lies ahead.




Far behind them, defended by prison bars, Rudolf tries to protect what remains of Pyotr Whitetip by taunting the legion of merciless undead.




Unbeknownst to the hobbit, Hothhil, Ingrid and Mondegreen descend into the dank dungeon beneath the stone tower. The stench of death is almost overpowering, and the moans of the tormented dead echo all around them. Mondegreen carries one of the tomes from the secret library; his grip so tight that his knuckles are white.

They find the bleeding ruin of Pyotr, and Ingrid quickly binds his wounds, hoping to keep him alive a little longer.

Hothhil peers around the corner and sees the back of a living carcass! (Z4) It is not alone!



In the desecrated church, Urdur wants to leave but Telkis finds the door behind the altar from where the ranting madman first appeared. The wild-eye human keeps pleading with desperate urgency, trying to make the gnomes see:

"The black coven shall never die, waiting til the stars come right again, and the secret witches and wolves shall rouse great Shub-Niggurath from his resting place beneath the dark mountains to revive his subjects and resume his rule of Oerth!"



"The time shall be easy to know, for then mankind will have become as the Great Old Ones themselves; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and reveling in joy!"

"Then the liberated Old Ones shall teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the Oerth will flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom and madness and horror!"


Actions?!


Map:

1 = Pyotr and Rudolf in the dungeon ; 2 = Hothhil, Ingrid and Mondegreen entering the dungeon; 3 = Telkis and Urdur at the desecrated church; 4 = Bo, Brevos and Mouser on the graveyard road





PC Status:

• Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 3: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 13/31
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 2/3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 8/15, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Hothhil Thornbush, Elven Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 1, HP: 14/20
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 12", AC: 9(7), HP: 17/22, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl and 4/4 2nd lvl
  Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 19/30, Spells: 5/6 1st lvl, 2/3 2nd lvl and 2/2 3rd lvl
  Mondegreen Cindereye, Human Magic-User 2: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 3/8, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Pyotr Whitetip, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 8, HP: -4/30
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 1/12
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 0, HP: 12/32
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 5/9, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl and 1/1 2nd lvl

PC Magic:

• None currently.

Player Resources:

• Tale of Terror (the story so far)
  A Dark and Terrible World (maps)

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur says to Telkis, "Verstallene sig til den først trykte Tekst af Völuspá. Tallet er udmærket med Stjerne, naar vedkommende Vers ikke i sin poetiske er optaget, men kun omskrevet."

Gnomish for Let's check out the room this weirdo came from.

Urdur enters the room if he can do so without turning his back on the crazy man. He keeps his hands near his daggers.

[wolfpack]

We must keep moving, if we make noise we can draw them out of town so they won;t get our companions.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Hothhil retreats around the corner and mimes for Ingrid and Mondegreen that there are enemies close, and that they should be as quiet as possible. He allows them to bear Pyotr's weight,* knowing he needs to protect them if more zombies arrive. Once back up the stairs, he let's them know that, Rudolph is either dead already or barricaded in a cell. Either way, there is nothing they can do for him while protecting Pyotr. Once Pyotr is upstairs, safe, we can return, better prepared, to find Rudolph's body.


*what spells does Mondegreen have prepared and can cast? If it is more useful than a sword, Hothhil will carry Pyotr up the stairs.

[ravenn4544]

Mouser keeps moving and without thinking about where they are going or where they are. They have a few hours to figure out how, if at all, to deal with the coming moon....

[rredmond]

As he sees that the bars hold Rudolph keeps haranguing the undead, at times cursing in Hobbitish and tearing off a piece of his bloody clothing to toss at them. Fresh blood that you can’t have, ha ha! Attercop, attercop! He’ll say with braggadocio that he neither feels nor shows as he is still hugging the walls of the cell. We reinforced these cells, still yelling at them but assuming they don’t understand, if only you were in here and I out there, he says with a chuckle, laughing at the absurdity of what he is saying. He keeps his eyes on the undead and the bars, looking for any weaknesses. With occasional glances at his weapons and keys. Old Tomnoddy, Lazy Lob and Crazy Cob he yells at the creatures again, making himself chuckle at the old vulgarisms and hopes he doesn’t hear the edge of insanity in his laughter.

[Inferno]

DM:

Hothhil asks Mondegreen in a whisper, "What spells have you prepared and are they more useful than a sword?"

The dark warlock had been distracted and distraught ever since losing his familiar, the black cat Umbra. He returns from his dreadful thoughts and whispers to the elf beneath the roaring of the dead: "If a sword will do, I would reserve my arcane powers for more pressing needs."

Mondegreen then turns to Ingrid Esthof, "Priestess, can you not heal the half-orcish sailor? He has a sword and the means to use it."

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

The cleric places her hands on Pyotr as she quietly whispers words of prayer to Tritherion, requesting his healing benevolence to flow through her in the heroes' time of need.

Cure Light Wounds [1d8] = 8

[ChubbyPixie]

Urdur says to Telkis, "Verstallene sig til den først trykte Tekst af Völuspá. Tallet er udmærket med Stjerne, naar vedkommende Vers ikke i sin poetiske er optaget, men kun omskrevet."

Gnomish for Let's check out the room this weirdo came from.

Urdur enters the room if he can do so without turning his back on the crazy man. He keeps his hands near his daggers.

"Da skøørt," agrees Telkis.

"Yes. I'll guard you while you try it out. There's sure to be a clue inside."

He'll keep a good eye on the man while Urdur tries the door.

[Urson]

Pyotr

Pyotr does the classic "sudden gasp of breath" when the healing power is applied.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo looks around a bit more now that they have their bearings.

"Can you guys see any of them? Have we escaped danger.......at least for the time being?"

Bo checks the foliage for any helpful plants if the coast looks clear enough.

"Maybe if we can lure them away from town, the three of us can double back to see if we can still find the others before....."

[Inferno]

Vicar's Head, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Four. Midday. Tuesday, November 15th, 576 CY
Cold, foggy, cloudy







"By their stench can men sometimes know they art near, but of their semblance can no man know, saving only in the features of those they have begotten on mankind! And of those art many sorts, differing in likeness from man’s truest self to that shape without sight or substance which is their unspeakable selves!" the madman rages in the violated church of Pelor.

As Telkis keeps watch, Urdur enters the sacristy behind the altar. The room is rent asunder. Holy items and sacred vestments are desecrated, broken and torn. In the center of the maelstrom of debris stands a wash basin of soapy water surrounded by broken mirrors.

"No! Don't go in there!" rants the clean shaven man as he moves to follow Urdur into the sacristy.

In the dungeon below the stone tower...



...Rudolf yells at the gruesome undead men who strain murderously to reach him. The bars creak and moan beneath their relentless weight but they hold... for now.

Just out of his sight and theirs, as Hothhil and Mondegreen confer, Ingrid Esthof utters a prayer of mercy as loud as she might dare and Pyotr awakens from out of a black nightmare with a start! (+8hp!)




On the road into the mountains that overlook poor Vicar's Head...




...Brevos urges Bo and Mouser onward, toward the graveyard and the haunted woods beyond. Mouser keeps up as Long Bo slows. The druid finds no useful plants in the cold and the lingering snow. He looks back into the fog and neither sees nor hears the ghastly undead host, nor the forsaken village they plague.



Actions?!


Map:

1 = Pyotr, Rudolf, Hothhil, Ingrid and Mondegreen in the dungeon; 3 = Telkis and Urdur at the desecrated church; 4 = Bo, Brevos and Mouser moving toward the graveyard, off map


Non-required reading (rolls and rulings):

Iron bars Save vs normal blow (2): [1d20] = 10 Rudolf's bars hold.
Z4 hears PCs? (1): [1d6] = 3 No.

PC Status:

• Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 3: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 13/31
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 2/3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 8/15, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Hothhil Thornbush, Elven Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 1, HP: 14/20
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 12", AC: 9(7), HP: 17/22, Spells: 4/5 1st lvl and 4/4 2nd lvl
  Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 19/30, Spells: 5/6 1st lvl, 2/3 2nd lvl and 2/2 3rd lvl
  Mondegreen Cindereye, Human Magic-User 2: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 3/8, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Pyotr Whitetip, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 8, HP: 5/30
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 1/12
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 0, HP: 12/32
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 5/9, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl and 1/1 2nd lvl

PC Magic:

• None currently

Player Resources:

• Tale of Terror (the story so far)
  A Dark and Terrible World (maps)

[ChubbyPixie]

“Why not?” says Telkis, hesitating on the threshold. “What’s in there? Speak plainly, now!”

There, that should work.

[rredmond]

Rudolph continues to rail against the undead at the bars, pacing his 4 step back and forth at the back of the cell, "May Urogalan's grimwardens take you back into the earth as his cursed Earthrising will take me!" The weariness of his pain, and the loss of the half-orc starts to take its toll and the little hobbit crumples in the corner laughing out loud. "Curses and splashes," he half-sobs, "is all lost?" All the while he keeps a weather eye on those bars, and obsessively arranges the sword and daggers on the floor in front of him. As he palms the stone, he smiles grimly, when evening comes and he feels the moon's power starting to take him, he will unleash the stone and steel of a halfling's fury before the change... then, hopefully, bring another creature's fury to bear against these fell creatures of the night.

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

Should we try getting their attention, then run to the hidden library? I'd like to draw them away from Rudolph if we can, whispers Ingrid.

[Urson]

Pyotr

Pyotr scrambles to his feet, still weak and confused. Spasibo svyashchennik! he says, making a slight bow to Ingrid. He looks around. Rudolph?

He grips the crowbar, taking one half-step toward the mass of undead before he stops, clearly remembering what happened before.